‘Cha Cha Slide’ creator DJ Casper has died due to cancer

DJ Casper, the man behind the Cha Cha Slide, has passed away at the age of 58.

On Monday August 07, the Chicago native lost his fight with cancer.

Casper had a conversation at his home in May with Samantha Chatman of ABC7 about his 20 years of international renown and his health issues. It was his final appearance on television.

One of Chicago’s finest treasures was Casper. He created one of the most well-known line dances ever. But he never lost sight of his origins.

Casper acknowledged having health issues when he met down with ABC7 back in May, but he resolved to be optimistic and savor every moment. He left a song in the world that unites people from all walks of life.

The Cha Cha Slide would become a worldwide phenomenon, according to Casper.

“When I first did it, I did it as an aerobic exercise for my nephew at Bally’s,” Casper said. “From there, it just took off. Elroy Smith from WGCI grabbed ahold of it.”

The well-known line dance has been done by Casper all over the world.

“I have one of the biggest songs that played at all stadiums: hockey, basketball, football, baseball; they played it at the Olympics,” Casper said. “It was something that everybody could do.”

The global icon was on world tour with James Brown but everything suddenly stopped when the singer has been diagnosed with cancer.

“They diagnosed me in 2016 with two kinds of cancer, which is renal and Neuroendocrine, which is kidney and liver,” Casper said. “They went in to try to do surgery, and they found out the kidney was connected to the main artery, so they decided not to do it and just treat it.”